Gifted and Talented (GT)

Gifted and Talented Mission Statement

The mission of the Gifted and Talented (GT) program at the Indianola Community School District is to provide an educational environment that recognizes the unique intellectual, academic, and social/emotional needs of gifted students. We are therefore committed to providing differentiated, in-depth, complex and accelerated opportunities for GT students.  

In support of the mission of the Indianola Community School District, the GT Program strives to provide a quality educational experience in a cooperative atmosphere. Differentiation for gifted and talented students throughout their educational program results in improved teaching, student learning, and school performance. This is a cornerstone of programming, where the education of gifted and talented students must be flexible and responsive to their unique needs. The experiences for highly able students, both in and out of the classroom, should be purposeful and rigorous, motivating and meaningful. Through a balance of acceleration and enrichment, the abilities of gifted learners are recognized, developed and challenged.

District Inventory Forms for Parents and Teachers

Mathematics Learning Pathways

Overview of Gifted and Talented Services 

The GT team meets throughout the year to study the current plans, consider best practices in gifted education, analyze data, and more. The following questions are addressed:

• To what extent are gifted and talented services infused in the total educational program (foundation)?
• How will we best meet the educational needs of identified gifted and talented students (programming and service)?
• How will we set priorities for gifted and talented programming and the students served (program management)?
• How will students benefit as a result of gifted and talented services? (program effectiveness)?

At the middle school, the Gifted Education Teachers work closely with the teachers to ensure that identified student needs are addressed. All classroom teachers are expected to differentiate learning according to needs. Research noted in the A Nation Deceived Report states that “Just putting gifted kids together—but not accelerating the curriculum—has minimal academic benefit. The key component is the accelerated curriculum. Sometimes talented students are taught in a separate class, but they’re not accelerated. Researchers investigating the effects of this found something stunning. If the talented students were given the same curriculum as the regular class, the effect on their academic performance was zero.”

The Gifted Education Teachers will be given time to collaborate with teachers to make sure all planning for students is appropriate; however, that does not mean that they will be present during the delivery of instruction. The objective is to have all teachers become teachers of the gifted, not just one. We will never be able to give students what they truly need if only one teacher is available. We need all teachers to become educated on how to address student’s needs.

In regard to the social and emotional concerns for our GT students, the Indianola schools emphasis meeting the social and emotional concerns of our middle school students by employing three guidance counselors, one for each grade. It is the expectation that the guidance counselor at each grade level will be involved in addressing any social or emotional concerns of our students.

Middle School Continuum of Services Plan